Tyreeq Bakinson has paid tribute to skipper and midfield partner Sam Morsy for his influence during their time together at Portman Road in the second half of the season.
Bakinson arrived on loan from Bristol City in January and only once in his 11 appearances has he tasted defeat, which was the single-goal loss at play-off rivals Sheffield Wednesday, only one of two incurred during manager Kieran McKenna’s 16 games in charge.
The 6ft 3ins tall Londoner said: "I am enjoying my time at Ipswich but I think there is still a lot more to come from me in what’s left of the season.
"I’m still learning from the manager and other players, like Sam Morsy, the captain, who is teaching me a lot about my midfield role in the side.
"So I would say, yes, there’s a lot more to come from me and hopefully it will come over the final few weeks of the season.”
Asked what he was learning from Morsy, he replied: "It’s not all about what happens on the pitch. I’m learning from how he lives his life, both on and off the pitch.
"He’s a very good professional and he shows all the traits of a leader the way he captains the side.
"I definitely enjoy playing alongside him because I can see it all close-up, but I’m learning from whoever I can, not just Sam.
"Whether it’s the manager, players or members of the coaching staff, there are all sorts of things to learn that will hopefully make me a better player if I can introduce bits and pieces into my game.
"Working with the manager here has definitely been good for me and my game. He’s a very good manager, very tactically aware and full of good ideas.
"He makes it clear what he wants from his players and how he wants them to play within the team structure. He is thorough in the way he operates and his instructions to the players are clear.”
Right wing-back Wes Burns recently revealed that he and his Town colleagues regularly study DVD replays of some of the best players in the country in action as part of their development.
Bakinson added: "We all see things in other players that impress us but it’s not a case of me, for example, picking out a top midfielder and trying to be exactly like him in the way I play.
"Yes, I want to get better all the time and there are players I analyse, but it’s about picking things out and trying to put them in my game rather than just trying to copy that player in everything he does, if that makes sense.
"It’s about getting a mix of things I can pick up from other players and putting it together with what I’d call my game. I still want to be myself but we all want to get better and I’m no different from the other lads in that respect.
"I’m enjoying it a lot here — the style of play, the manager, the players, they’ve all welcomed me and the fans have been amazing, especially at Portman Road with the big crowds we’ve had. The atmosphere was been tremendous and it has helped me a lot. Yes, I’m really enjoying it.
"I came here to play games. All I wanted was to play and as a younger player I believe you need to be playing games if you are going to learn and improve. Even experienced players want to play regularly and win games, which is the whole point of being a footballer and is exactly what we’re doing here.”
But Bakinson admitted this week’s news that he was shocked by the news that ex-Town midfielder or left-back Tristan Nydam had made the decision to retire from professional football at the age of 22.
Nydam never fully recovered from the serious ankle injury sustained in a pre-season game at Notts County in 2019 and Bakinson said: "Reading Tristan’s news really hit home with me and made me think. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how fortunate you are to be doing what you want to do, playing football professionally for a living.
"I’m grateful every single day and when I heard the story about Tristan having to retire from the game because of injury it really registered with me.
"As a young player, I can’t even imagine what it must be like for him. He’s only a year younger than I am and it could be any one of us in that position.
"It’s such a sad story and I feel for him in his situation. It makes you think and we should all be grateful it’s not us. We’re all wishing him all the best in whatever he does in the future.”